International internships make dreams come true

What do Oprah, Katie Couric, Brooke Shields, Spike Lee and former President Bill Clinton have in common?

All have completed internships in their field of study. Following the same path would seem a recipe for success. Many UM students complete internships every year, giving them the opportunity to apply skills learned in the classroom to the work setting.

“Internships have become a key element of a competitive student’s resume, helping them distinguish themselves in a global marketplace,” said UM internship coordinator, Cheryl Minnick.

Going a step further, many students have applied for and received an internship internationally, exposing them to the global marketplace. An international internship provides students with the opportunity to expand their skills professionally while seeing the world, Minnick said.

“While an international internship offers great opportunities, it can be an expensive, challenging endeavor,” Minnick said. “Few international internships pay and the cost of travel and living can be daunting. In addition, language proficiency is often required prior to the internship.”

Even though an international internship sounds like a financial nightmare, many UM students complete an internship abroad because of the amazing opportunities it provides.

Hilary Martens, a UM junior majoring in physics, interned at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory south of London, England. While there she analyzed data provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Cassini/Huygens Mission — a spacecraft that has been orbiting Saturn since July of 2004 and is the first long-term study of the planet and its largest moon, Titan.

“It has always been my dream to work for NASA on a space mission and (last) summer provided me that opportunity,” she said. “Working with internationally recognized scientists on one of the most important space missions of today is a great honor and a unique opportunity.”

Martens had researched the mission while at UM under Daniel Reisenfeld, a physics and astronomy professor. Reisenfeld knew of Martens deep interest in the mission as well as her intent to study abroad and contacted a colleague at the London laboratory on her behalf. Only weeks after sending her resumé, Martens was invited to join the lab’s team for the summer.

While interning, Martens received a broad variety of experiences like analyzing data acquired by the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer — a device onboard the spacecraft.

“Working in a space science laboratory, with a team of people on the same mission as you, is a completely different experience from researching one on one with an adviser,” Martens said. “This is the type of experience I was only able to get from an internship at a lab devoted specifically to what I was interested in studying.”

A senior graduating at the end of this spring with a degree in business, Roger Schulze came to the United States to pursue schooling after he was born and raised in Germany. While working at adidas-Group AG, the corporation responsible for creating the famous three-stripe athletic shoe and golf-giant MAXFLI, among other things, he decided he wanted to pursue higher education and gain international experience at the same time. Knowing the beauty of Montana because his dad grew up in Kalispell and had told him stories, he decided to apply to UM.

Last summer Schulze decided to return to adidas-Group AG to pursue an internship. Returning for an internship at the company where he worked for nearly two years before attending UM seemed a natural choice for him. While there he worked with active Internet Technology projects and took it upon himself to improve the relations and communication between team project members by implementing staff barbecues, bowling and volleyball games.

“Anytime you can be involved in a full-scale global project there is nothing but to learn from the co-workers, consultants and friends that were established,” he said.

Schulze went home to Germany to work for adidas-Group AG, but hopes to return to the School of Business to obtain a graduate degree.

This summer, Lindsey Brandt, a senior studying German and liberal studies, will intern with the United States Commercial Service in the Department of Commerce in Munich, Germany. She will work with the department for three months, putting in 38-hour work weeks and assisting in market research and correspondence between German and American companies. Her internship will be unpaid, but the President’s Office paid for her travel expenses.

Brandt applied for this internship because she’s been exposed to international trade issues in many of her economics classes and wanted to experience the process firsthand.

“I’m really excited about this internship because it’s a chance for me to tie together a few areas of interest that I otherwise wouldn’t have necessarily had the opportunity to combine, namely Germany and the German language with economics,” she said.
One of the great aspects of applying for an international internship through the government, Brandt said, is that it’s less complicated when dealing with visa issues.

While international internships can be expensive, they pay for themselves tenfold in experience and stand out on a resume.
“International internships offer solid opportunities to professionally network and significantly increase a student’s chance at securing a full-time position upon graduation,” Brandt said.

—By Brianne Burrowes